The Art Libraries Society of North America (also known as ARLIS/NA) was founded in 1972. It is an organization made up of approximately 1,000 art librarians, library students and visual resource professionals.
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The mission of ARLIS/NA is to foster excellence in art and design librarianship and image management. We achieve this mission through our many activities, such as:
- Meeting, networking, and sharing ideas in person at our Annual Conferences.
- Publishing substantive articles of a practical as well as scholarly nature through our many publications, such as Art Documentation, Occasional Papers, and Online Publications.
- Providing a forum for professional communication, via our listserv and web site.
- Reaching out to future art librarians through numerous scholarship awards.
- Recognizing excellence in the field through awards for research, service, and publication.[1]
ARLIS/NA's vision is to be the leading organization in the arts information field. We will serve as a catalyst in the development of services and resources, while harnessing the values and traditions in the field that are relevant to the changes that emerge in the field over time. The Society will address the needs of art library and information professionals and support the advancement of the profession, pursuing partnerships with other professional organizations, higher education organizations, and international forums. ARLIS/NA will continue to foster an inclusive Society, with a collaborative infrastructure, that is welcoming to all members of society and promotes a multiplicity of viewpoints and perspectives.
Before ARLIS/NA, art librarians organized under an American Library Association Round Table. However, ALA support was limited. Meetings were only held biannually, attendance was minimal, and professional progress slow. This was an age of intellectual advancement and curiosity, the post-War years. The world had opened up, and through the influence of popular magazines like Time (magazine) and Life (magazine), Americans were exposed to a range of cultures. According to William Freitag, “Hundreds of new museums and libraries were built every year…there was an explosion of publications in the traditional formats on all subjects.”[2] All of these developments led to the very real need for art librarians to organize.
By the late 1960s, against ALA's wishes,[3] a separate, short-lived art libraries group was created in conjunction with an existing museum sub-section of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), a division of ALA. This proved to be temporary, too, as support was again limited. According to William J. Dane, "We didn't like being called a sub-section. We didn't need to depend on ALA or ACRL. There were enough of us who said, 'The hell with you.' Once the idea of independence got going, it was irreversible." ARLIS/NA was founded by art librarians attending the American Library Association annual conference in Chicago and was the brainchild of Judith Hoffberg, who had been inspired by attending meetings of ARLIS/UK in London. The informal annual meetings of art librarians with College Art Association furthered the initiative to organize. According to Wolfgang Freitag, “The Association of College and Research Libraries was but one of several library organizations in which art librarians were enrolled at that time.”[4]
These early art librarians recognized a need to develop a community specifically for architecture and art librarians, visual resources professionals, artists, curators, educators, publishers, and others interested in visual arts. This organization would provide a forum for colleagues to collaborate, exchange ideas, network, support professional growth in the field, create and uphold partnerships with other professional and higher education organizations and develop programs to propagate domestic and international standards in art information and art librarianship.
By 1982, however, a major section of ARLIS/NA had broken off to form its own group, Visual Resources Association (VRA). Wolfgang Freitag goes as far as to suggest that this split may have occurred "due to a semantic hang-up on words." Nonetheless, he adds, "The growth of the two organizations has strengthened the profession as a whole so that it is stronger today than we could have imagined thirty and twenty years ago. It is a consolation that this happened even though, or perhaps because, the two main branches of what to my mind is still an indivisible profession gained their strength by following different paths and by marching to different drummers."[5]
ARLIS/NA is a national organization with the following regional affiliates chapters.[6]
The ARLIS/NA Executive Board is composed of a president (formerly chair), vice-president/president-elect and past president, part of a continuous three-year term; and a secretary, treasurer, four regional representatives and a Canadian representative, all of whom serve two-year terms.
The Board is currently rethinking their organizational structure and is instituting a new focus around four general areas: education, publications, technology and communications.
In alignment with the organization’s mission to foster excellence in art and design librarianship and image management, ARLIS/NA hosts a yearly conference for members to meet in person, share ideas and network.[1][8]
ARLIS/NA offers travel awards to students and industry professionals (members and non-members) to their annual conferences.[9]
One of the most esteemed honors is the Distinguished Service Award which is given to an individual of any country whose exemplary service in art librarianship, visual resources curatorship, or a related field, has made an outstanding national or international contribution to art information.
Since its foundation in 1974, ARLIS/NA has bestowed The George Wittenborn Memorial Board Award annually. This honor recognizes excellence of content and production in North American art publications. Initially called the Art Publishing Award, it was renamed in 1980 to honor George Wittenborn (1905–1974), the influential New York art book dealer and publisher. The award is presented annually for outstanding publications in the visual arts and architecture which combine the highest standards of scholarship, design, and production.
ARLIS-L is the Society's listserv which functions as a forum for sharing information and discussing current issues facing art librarians, library students and visual resource professionals. Discussions often include topics relevant to art professionals, such as reference and cataloging questions as well as questions about art resources and materials. The listserv is also a resource for job listings. ARLIS-L is a place for Society members to widely distribute information about the ARLIS/NA's activities at conferences, workshops and meetings, announcements of awards and honors, news regarding Society members and information on new print and electronic publications. ARLIS-L is an open discussion list and anyone may subscribe.[10] It is also a good place to announce changes made to this wikipedia page.
Art Documentation is the official bulletin of the Art Libraries Society of North America and is now published twice yearly. In 1982 it was decided that the ARLIS/NA Newsletter had developed into more of a professional journal than just a newsletter. Art Documentation includes articles and information relevant to art librarianship and visual resources curatorship. This publication includes practical information for the ARLIS/NA community such as committee, conference, meeting, chapter and member updates. ISSN 0730-7187
Reviews of recently published titles relevant to art information professionals. See Reviews
Manuscripts for purchase on current art information issues with such topics on staffing standards and core competencies. See Occasional Papers
Additional resources that are available via free download on the ARLIS/NA website.